Category Archive : Missionary

I have had an amazing week, in which I learned a lot and got to see some miracles. The biggest thing that I have learned here is that I am in this area to become a convert to the Lord. I am learning something new every day, and retaining the information because I am not just learning by studying, but by FAITH. Applying knowledge to our lives is what makes us better. We will be judged for all that is written, whether we complete with it or not, we already know it all. We have to apply it one principle at a time until we can become perfect.

One of the things that helped me more than anything else, was the conference talk that dad sent me, ¨Lord, is it I?¨ That is the question that if we all apply to ourselves, will let us be converts. If we are looking for problems in others to correct, unless we are perfect in that thing, we are wasting our time on this earth. This is our time to repent and get better so we can be the best when we get to God. If we spend it looking at others we might help them to look better than us in the last day. We have to look inward to be able to solve our problems, because we control how we think, feel and what we do, and in this way, we have control over everything. I applied this to my own life with my companion. I was thinking poorly of him, thinking he was upset and we had problems. For this, I felt poorly towards him, and did not act. I repented and talked to him, and now, I think well of him, love him as a brother, and was able to learn and apply many other things in my life. We are doing amazing right now. I am happy and great. Learning is the best, even when it hurts.

I also threw up this last week for the first time since I was with my trainer, and it was not so great of a day. But I think it was just from food poisoning, because I felt a ton better the next day and now I am all good.

I found a scripture to chop up all of this disobedience in the premortal existence too, which I think will be cool to use now that Ben is in Elders quorum with his machete sharpened up and ready to go at it. It is in D&C 93:38 The whole chapter is good

We changed houses too, and it is amazing now. We have water and our bathroom is inside. It is also a lot safer. More information on that next week.

I am glad to hear that Ben got ordained and that he has put in practice his priesthood already blessing mom. Those are some good experiences…I am grateful to God about everything out here, and with everything at home. You have all been blessed and protected, and it is because I am 100% out here. I love you all and miss you sometimes, but I am with my family out here now and God helps me to be happy as I think about others more than myself.

I love you all

Elder Searle

Fotos:Goodbye to elder Garcia, bible scriptures, old lady christmas tree, sunset, timbuk2 thing that i dont know what it is for

It has been a while since I last talked to you all, so I am only going to put the most important things that I have for you.

First, something spiritual that I liked from my scripture reading in the Book of Mormon this last week. In Alma 37:38-47 it is super awesome about explaining the simplicity of the Gospel. In 44 it says It is easy to give heed to the word of Christ. We must be the ones that make the Gospel hard to follow. Also, in Alma 37: 36-37, It talks about our thoughts and our affections and how we have to give them all up to the Lord, and to seek his counsel. In Jacob 4:4 it says to seek not to counsel the Lord. Prayer cannot be a constant wish-list, but rather, it needs to be the way that we receive orders from God. We should be asking what we can do for God, not just asking him to do stuff for us.

Last week we went to Trujillo to go goof off with President and his wife, and the whole zone went. We went to the beach and I played Frisbee with a few buds, and I also wrestled 2 of the other elders in the sand. It was fun and super relaxing and I have a trillion pictures for you all so don’t worry. I had a tun of fun and it was one of the best P-days that I have had for a loooooong time. The only thing was that I didn’t get to call home, but it is all good.

With my companion I am doing well. It is normal. Not too great but not too bad either. We have too much in common in our personalities I think. It is hard to be compatible in this situation, but I am here to learn something. We had transfers this week, and I am staying with the same companion in the same area. I am going to have three transfers with him, but this transfer is when the transfers start to be every 5 weeks, so I will only be with this one for 5 more weeks. I am going to be here for Christmas!!! Hahaha. que triste. Nah but I am all good. I have been focused on the work and feeling good personally out here. I have felt the spirit strongly and frequently and it is great.

Pictures that I have for you all:Bday of old lady, 1 year pics (my trainers tie that he left me), sleeping people, lobster!, gecko in my cup, the little bus that we all fit in (16 elders), trujillo, A sexy lady, bunch of selfies on the beach, wrestled in the sand, sharky, beer sign next to sharky that they took of me *palm face*, samuel (recent convert who fell off a motorcycle, lucky to be alive), weird hut?, christmas tree thing, Goodbye pictures??, Tarantula, bad ideas…, videos that were failed attempts, burned shirt, christmas time ya

I love you all tons, going to call as much as I can with my time. Glad to see that you have all been doing well. I love you so much and it is all downhill from here 😉 nah I don ́t wanna go home anymore 🙂

First, this week has been super busy with traveling and everything, but overall it is going pretty good. I am still doing well with my companion and have learned a lot from him. We didn´t sleep very well for quite a few days, and I have been freezing cold in the nighttimes here. I am dying with the fan turned all the way down. It rained super hard on saturday, and now we have more water than ever before. The tube just shoots it out and I feel like I´m in the USA sometimes….

I have been starting to do more exercise lately, and I am so weak. But I am going to get home with a 6 pack (from hunger and heat exhaustion) Nah just kidding. But for real I am going to work out more.

I am just about to hit my one year mark, and I have to perform a ritual that we all must do. I am going to burn the worst shirt that I have. So be waiting for pictures of that this next week… Also, I am going to be able to start with fresh garments and a few new shirts 🙂

Elder Bednard spoke WITH us for 3 hours. I highlight the with because he didn´t speak at us, but he asked us open questions and let us ask him questions all night long. It was amazing. Also he is my favorite and I am glad I got to have such an amazing experience. I was like 10 benches away from him, and it was cool to see the spirit that he brings with him everywhere he goes. He spoke to us about how we have to believe Christ and not just in him. Also about how we can get revelation. A ton of things he said with help me for my whole life and I am glad to have been there for the experience.

Photos: Pizza, district photo (Christmas!!), food

I love you all tons. I am doing great and hope to keep getting better! Glad to hear you are all well

It has been a long week honestly. We got a lot of people that weren’t at home when they said they were going to be, who hid in their houses, and even a few who closed their doors in our faces. Ahhhh, the life of an average missionary. It has been good honestly. The 2 days that we were outside without anyone to receive us, there was at least nice weather, so that was nice. It has been raining on and off and super cloudy and actually a little cool out here and I have been enjoying it. Today I woke up at like 5:30 and couldn’t sleep anymore because I was super cold haha. If you were here you would be dying of heat, but I was freezing cold…

We had 2 weird experiences with the same problem this last week. the first one, we finished the lesson and asked ¨how have you felt?¨ and the person just stood up and walked into another room. He came out with his hand in his pocket hiding something, and a million thoughts ran through my head. He said ¨You guys asked me how I felt right?¨ and pulled out 20 lepiras (80 cents) and tried to give it to us. We aren’t supposed to take money from anyone, and so we tried to deny it, but he came back at us with ¨the spirit told me that I have to give this to you.¨ So it turned into take the money or deny the spirit (and according to him, take away the blessing that he was going to get). Reluctantly, we took the money and left. We both promised to not spend any of that money on someone who was not in need, and that same night we found a little boy who is very humble. It was very likely that his family was not going to eat dinner that night, and so we gave it to him and told him to give it to his dad without saying where he got it from. I hadn’t seen a smile so big for a long time. later, we had the same thing happen from another family who gave us 10 lempiras, and we are still looking for who we can bless with it.

We had out normal interviews with the mission presidente this last week on Tuesday, and they went really well. I talked to his wife for a little while because she is also super awesome, and they were both institute teachers for a long time, so they understand a lot of the doctrine in the church. They are both super awesome, and they inspire me every time I talk with them. My mission president always tells us to listen to his wife more than to him because returned missionaries only remember what the mission president´s wife says after the mission. I guess we will see if he is right whenever it is that I get home…

I have been increasing my desire to share the restored gospel with the whole world. Before the mission, my testimony in the restoration and in Joseph Smith was the weakest testimony that I had in any gospel doctrine. Now, it is a certainty. Every time I open my mouth to testify about the restored gospel, I feel the burning confirmation of the Spirit swell up within me, and I know with more of a certainty that it is true every time. All we have to do is ask… Its soooooo simple, and I don´t know why it is so hard for some people. The blessings promised and the seemingly instant answer is so great, that it seems so silly to not ask. But, thinking on the Savior, he had to be rejected even by those who saw with their own eyes. Salvation was never easy.

I love you all, and testify the truth of the restored gospel in all aspects. I know God lives and that he actually answers our prayers. Take care, glad to hear you are all well.

Love you!!

Elder Searle

Photos: PB sandwich with honey… ¨Like kissing your sister¨-Dad,

The searle bench is the same bench world wide, spicy salsa, video of rain and sun at the same time (its not fair) 🙁

It has been a pretty good week. I got everything patched up with my comp, and we are working hard to get some really good people we have moving. I am actually glad to say that I have been finding genuine joy in my work out here, and it is giving me a better purpose to be here. I feel like recently, it has all just kind of ¨clicked¨ into place and I feel really good about all we are doing. I feel like i have found my reason to be here over these last few months, and it feels good.

We are simultaneously finding, teaching and baptizing and it feels good to be finding success in all of these things. I am doing great and feel the spirit as my constant companion and comforter. It is a constant testimony to me, and I know I will come home truly converted unto the Lord.

Something interesting that I have been doing is that I am reading the book of Mormon looking for many interesting things, and the two that I want to share with you are the names of Jesus Christ, and also his many attributes. I have found a lot of interesting attributes, and when I finish the book here in a month or so, I will make sure to let you all know what I find. I testify that it is the most true and best book there is on this earth.

Photos:District pic, pizza, homemade bomb I made, baptism

I love you all, I am doing great, and I know you all are too. I hope you can all find joy and delight in the words of Christ, and I know that just by reading his words and remembering him all the time will help us to get to know him, and this is truly life eternal. I testify it to you all, I know it is true by experiencing it.

I am doing alright with my companion, we were getting along super super awesome two weeks ago, (when I started to write this letter and the lights got shut off all night long), but this last week was not so great. I am trying to use all my time wisely and misuse none of it, and my companion is not in agreement. We wasted some time in a couple of houses, and my companion likes to talk a little bit too much with some of the female peoples we are visiting, so that’s cool… I guess we will see how it works out.

Edwin baptized his little sister, only 6 days after becoming a member himself, it was a really good experience.

I tried a new study, which was to go through my patriarchal blessing and make a two sided list. Blessings, and requirements. I learned a lot and feel like I got a lot out of it. It is something good to see and to know.

We had one of the 70s come to our mission and give us a lesson thing instead of having a zone conference this go around. He is called Elder Alan Walker, and it was really really good. He spoke powerfully and I felt the spirit strongly. I have been feeling really really good lately, and honestly have had the spirit with me a lot more often as I am striving to be a better disciple of Christ. It has been a good experience. I feel calmer, with more peace and I find Joy in my everyday works. It has been a great blessing to try and continuously apply new doctrine to my life and be better every single day.

Also, the on November 16th, Elder David A Bednard is going to come to our mission and we are going to have a conference with him!!!!! It is going to be the best day of my life. He is my favorite.

For Halloween, I have no idea what is going to happen, or how they celebrate it here, but I don’t think they are going to do anything because we have heard nothing.

Even though I couldn’t write you this last week, I feel like it was a normal week. I have sacrificed it all to be here and I am trying to submit myself to the will of My Father. I have never seen such great blessings and tender mercies of the Lord, and in his infinite grace and goodness He has done much for me. He lives, and it is the most true thing that we can know.

I love you all,

Elder Searle

Photos: The last one I am going to take with money I promise, Sunset/Rise, I can sew!!, Big baleada, the pineapple… mmmm…., baptism with Edwin and his sister :), Olanchito, Interesting popcicle, flying caterpillar, Christmas candy already?, Poprocks, gangsters

It has been a real quick week, and gone by really fast out here. I am surprised to see that we are now in October. I just barely realized that…

We had a baptism this week and it went really well. They are always the most stressful but most rewarding events down here, and I am excited to say that we are going to be baptizing for the next few weeks here too. This next week Edwin, (The one who got baptized right now) is going to baptize his little sister and I don´t think I will ever forget the experience to see that.

My companion and I are doing quite a bit better and working hard to keep up our area. We want it to produce good fruit and keep getting better, and I want to leave this area a lot better than when I found it. I know that we are going to have a lot of success here soon and I am super excited.

I want to share with you all the importance of something that I am learning right now, and it is mind control. It is very important to have for your own mind. Our mind and our thoughts is where everything starts, and if we have control of that, we control everything. The thing most important to understand is that we can only entertain one thought at a time, and as long as we are always trying to think positively and about Christ, we will eventually become like him. The thing is to train your mind to always do that. Hence, Mind Control.

Photos: My fathers last agenda, my face while playing with my camera, baptism, my companion had these $20 bills and it made me think of home when I was rich

I love you all and I have seen that you have all had good weeks. I hope you all have a good one and take care. I pray for you always and I am doing absolutely awesome!!!

Elder Searle 🙂

I feel like I am learning a lot and how to be more like an adult out here… That’s weird.

My new companion is a bit difficult. Dude had some problems in his old area, and has now ¨repented¨ and is with me to learn how to be obedient. So the president trusts a lot in me, and he wants to see that I am able to handle challenges and do all that is possible to help a missionary stay out here. The thing is is that the dude has a big character and we run into each other a bit. It has been one of the hardest challenges I have faced in the mission, but it is not the worst week I have ever had, just the hardest. If that make sense. I am glad for the challenge, and it will be interesting to see how it all ends up. I hope to learn to learn a little bit better and I hope I learn a lot from this experience.

General Conference was super awesome, and most of what I noticed is that they talked a lot about Satan and how he works. They talked a lot about how we need to keep our covenants too, and I think that it is very interesting how they have touched those two subjects so many times. Like a third of the talks talked about Satan, and I think it is a clear warning about what is coming in this world. The prophet and his apostles are getting us ready, and cleaning our blood from their garments. Very interesting.

Pictures:Sun set, Jamo, light switch that I put in the house, PISTO (money), I like the one with the angry face

Love you all, glad to hear you are all well and that you freeze your butts off in the mountain.

This week has been super awesome. We have had a ton of good work and been doing really awesome as a companionship. We are super strong and I actually love the dude like a brother. The worst thing that has happened is that we received some bad news last night. There have been emergency transfers, and they are going to take my companion out of here and send him to another area. They are going to send him to La Masica, (my first area). I am super sad that he is leaving, and I don´t understand why it had to be him after all of his hard work and now he wont get to see the fruits of it. Poor guy:( They are sending me some guy from San Pedro, so I guess we will see what happens in the next few days here.

We had zone conference this last week, and it was really really good. I feel super enthusiastic and super good to keep working and keep on going out here. Our mission president is very awesome, and I am super glad for all he does. He is helping me to become a true disciple of Christ, and it feels good to know that we are being led by a strong leader. Also, it is just about to be general conference time, and I can´t wait for it! I am super excited. Also, Elder Bernard is going to be coming out here in November, and he might get to talk to our whole mission, and might be announcing the temple breaking ground!!!! How exciting. He is my favorite, and I hope that he gets to come out to us.

My week has been amazing. We have found all the success that we have been looking for for so much time, and it was such an amazing experience. I am super glad for all of your prayers from home, and for having helped me to stay motivated in your letters and such. We found a ton of families this last week, and had 7 investigators at church yesterday. 5 of them have baptismal dates already, and 3-4 of them are really sound. We are super excited to be working super tough out here and seeing the fruits for giving it all of our work.

My comp and I have been doing well, and although not perfect, we are both getting along well and trying to be better people everyday. I am super glad to be with him for this next transfer, and I hope that we reap some rewards of our hard work out here together.

I am doing well, glad for your prayers, and for your love and support. I am lost out here in the work and the time passes by real quick. I have already been out here for 10 months, and I am so excited to think that I still have more than half of my mission ahead of me for at least a little while longer. It is amazing and I regret nothing.

Pictures : Little Possum we found dead in our back yard getting eating by a million ants (it is still there today, 4 days later), Ice Cream… It was crappy, but there was a lot of it… America